The summary report by the County Council’s Highways Officer who examined the feasibility of the proposed new zebra crossing for Arbury Road east has been released as an agenda paper for the Council meeting which will decide whether it should go ahead.
This meeting will now be held on the 25th of July.
Applications for funding are rated using a traffic light system.
Against all bar one of the reporting criteria the application for the zebra crossing has been rated as amber.
Against ‘deliverability’, it has been rated as red.
These ratings make it appear highly unlikely that the zebra crossing will be funded.
This is reinforced by the very high cost that the County Council has attached to providing a ‘raised’ crossing, as advised to ARERA by Camcycle.
The summary report to the committee is incorrect when it says that the introduction of a modal filter on Arbury Road east lacked support from local residents.
Our 2019-20 survey showed that this was not the case.
The summary report does, however, keep alive the hope that the County Council may yet deliver a “Future phase of cycle route improvements” on Arbury Road east.
The proposals would see residents’ parking bays on one side of the Arbury Road and double yellow lines on the other
A group of Cambridge neighbours have described plans to introduce parking measures in their area as ‘divisive’. Members of the Arbury Road East Residents’ Association (ARERA) criticised plans to introduce double yellow lines down one side of Arbury Road, with residents’ parking bays on the other.
Ian Cooper, secretary of ARERA, described the proposals of a Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) for Arbury Road as ‘divisive’. He said they split the street in half by providing residents’ bays on the south side of the street but not the north – and residents on the north side will not be eligible for residents’ parking permits under the scheme.
The proposed changes to Arbury Road have been put forward by the Greater Cambridge Partnership (GCP) as part of the Milton Road area resident parking scheme. Mr Cooper said he had asked the GCP why the two sides of the street would be treated differently and was told there was “inadequate on-street parking capacity”.
Simon Crisp said he would need to get the kerb lowered in front of his house to be able to park in front of his house. He said he would have to pay for the kerb to be lowered – when he began to research this, he found he would have to pay to make an application to the council for permission before paying around £1,200 for the work to be done.
Maggie Fernie said she only experiences issues with parking on Arbury Road on Saturday mornings. She said she is concerned about where tradesmen would park on the street with restrictions in place: “How is anybody going to get any work done?”
Mrs Lund added that the scheme might push parking onto adjoining streets like Maio Road that are not included in the proposals. She said this would “cause a lot of ill feeling”.
Lynne Miles, Director of City Access at the GCP, said: “The proposed scheme would see a combination of measures introduced to improve parking and road safety along a busy route in and out of the city. These measures would include new residents’ parking bays, pay & display and/or limited waiting bays, and double yellow lines in places deemed unsafe for people to park. The majority of residents were in support of the scheme as consulted upon.”
A consultation on the Milton Road area resident parking scheme, which includes proposed changes to Arbury Road, was carried out in 2022. Ms Miles added: “The scheme would help to provide dedicated parking for residents who currently find it difficult to park within a reasonable distance of their home, while also continuing to support the needs of businesses and community facilities in the Milton Road area.
“All schemes of this nature have to balance tricky issues about where to draw boundaries and how to accommodate differing needs to minimise any displacement effects to neighbouring areas. Cambridgeshire County Council, the highways authority, is expected to take the final decision on the proposed residents parking scheme – which has been subject to public consultation – in due course and if the decision is to go ahead, then a six-month review is recommended to consider whether the scheme needs to be amended.”
Residents and businesses on Arbury Road East – and its tributaries – need to be aware of what is imminently about to happenin the implementation of permit-based ‘Residents Parking’ on our road.
Adoption of this has been progressing very slowly through a very bureaucratic process. This process is about to reach a critical point – the issuing of a Traffic Regulation Order. This will offer you a short, time-limited, last chance to object, if you want to, to what is being proposed.
The Greater Cambridge Partnership has finished its consultations on Residents Parking Scheme for the Milton Road Area which includes Arbury Road East as part of the Hurst Park area. The GCP has passed its scheme to the Cambridgeshire County Council which has to make the final decision about whether it should be implemented, as the statutory highways authority. Before the scheme can go ahead, a Traffic Regulation Order must be issued.
As Lynne Miles, the City Access Director for the GCP, advises in the information she has provided to the Residents Associations concerned, this TRO could be issued “in the next few weeks”, see attached pdf.
The relevant information in our case would appear to be that:
“Traffic Regulation Orders (TROs) are legal documents that enable us as the local highway authority to prohibit, restrict or reduce the use of a road by traffic. This includes motor vehicles, bicycles and pedestrians. We implement TROs in line with:
· The Road Traffic R
· egulations Act 1984
· The Local Authorities’ Traffic Orders (Procedure) (England and Wales) Regulations 1996
Measures we can bring in using TROs include:
· Road or public right of way closures
· Speed limits
· On-street parking
· Waiting, loading and unloading areas and time limits
· Single and double yellow lines
· One-way streets
· Access and turning
· Prohibition of certain types of vehicles
· Width, height and weight restrictions
· Bus and cycle lanes
· Taxi ranks.”
Once you have seen the scheme set out in the TRO, if you want to, you can object to what it contains.
As yet, it is unclear how the imposition of permits for residents parking might impact on our Local Highways Improvement bid for another zebra crossing on Arbury Road East. We have requested further information on this and will keep members posted.
Arbury Road East Residents Association has, as two of its primary objectives, improving pedestrian and cyclist safety on the eastern end of Arbury Road (between Arbury Court play area and the Milton Road traffic lights).
A new crossing could improve safety for children walking via Leys Road to local primary and secondary schools, those living in Maio Road, Havenfield, Twickeham and Marfield Courts using Arbury Road shops, as well as all those who live and work on our street.
Results of survey of Arbury Road East residents and businesses
In December 2023, we asked those who live and work on Arbury Road East and its tributaries whether they would support a new zebra crossing situated between Milton Road and the Arbury Court play area, potentially funded by the County Council’s Local Highway Improvement Programme.
Two locations for a new crossing were suggested.
The committee surveyed people by distributing a paper flyer to 156 households, 5 businesses and 1 church, delivered door to door. It asked them to vote online for or against the proposal and to tell us why they voted as they did. Paper survey forms were also delivered to the 62 residential flats in Havenfield.
The survey generated a large response. Here is what those who responded told us.
A large majority support a new crossing but a small minority don’t.
47 people replied using ARERA’s online survey. More than 8 out 10 (39) of them supported the installation of a new zebra crossing. Only 8 of them did not. 9 completed forms were returned by residents of Havenfield. All bar one se supported installation of a new zebra crossing.
About two thirds of those who voted for a crossing prefer Location B.
Given this level of support, the committee is applying to the Local Highway Improvement Programme requesting installation of a new zebra crossing at Location B.
Why did people vote as they did?
The largest number of responses to the survey were received from those who live in the narrowest and most frequently congested part of Arbury Road East – post code CB4 2JB
The second largest number came from those who live in retirement flats in Havenfield – post code CB4 2JY – who could be expected to benefit most from the installation of a new zebra crossing.
People who were in favour of a new crossing were asked why they preferred the location they had chosen. In answering this question, they revealed that they had used just four assessment criteria:
proximity to destinations and/or other crossing points
location in relation to number/range of potential users
increased safety for pedestrians, and
traffic calming potential.
Viewed against these criteria, Location B emerges as front runner.
Table 2. The pros and cons of the two suggested locations
Location A
Pros
Cons
Proximity to destinations: shops, church, vets and schools
Too close to Milton Road traffic lights – so motorists might be tempted not to stop
Closest location to Havenfield retirement housing
Too dangerous
Link to footpath to Kirby Close
Serves least number of residents on Arbury Road
Safe crossing avoiding traffic junction with Milton and Leys Road
Good location to deter speeding to and from Milton Road traffic lights
Location B
Pros
Cons
Closest location to Havenfield retirement housing
Too close to Milton Road traffic lights with controlled pedestrian crossing
Mid-point between Milton Road junction and zebra crossing at Arbury Court play area
Reduces average distance anyone on Arbury Road East has to walk to reach a crossing
Improved safety for school children crossing to go to Chesterton and NCA secondary schools
Act as traffic calming measure to slow down vehicles on long straight stretch
May stop vehicles exceeding 20 mph speed limit
Good location to slow down traffic at dangerous junction with Leys Road and Havenfield
I
Provide alternative to dangerous zebra crossing between North Cambridge Academy and Arbury Court play area
Improved visibility (fewer parked cars) at this point for pedestrians trying to cross
Opposition to a new zebra crossing is not related to where people live on Arbury Road East. Most opposition came from those living in CB4 2JB – the narrowest and so least safe part of the road in terms of pedestrian and cyclist safety. But this is also the post code where most people voted for a new crossing.
Table 1. Opposition to new cross and respondents’ locations
Respondent’s post code
Number of respondents
Number opposed to new zebra crossing
CB4 1FY
1
–
CB4 2JB
16
5
CB4 2JD
11
1
CB4 2JE
10
1
CB4 2JY
13
–
CB4 2GA
1
–
Those who had voted against a new zebra crossing were asked why they had done so. They had used three assessment criteria:
proximity to other crossing points
traffic blocking potential, and
loss of on-street parking
All those who replied to the survey were asked if they had any other comments to make. Their replies reveal that there are very divergent, unreconcilable, views held by those who live on Arbury Road East Road about the nature of the problems, if any, faced by pedestrians and cyclists using it. There are those who think there aren’t any, e,g.:
“I think Arbury Road East is already safe for pedestrians and cyclists.”
and
“Having lived on this road I think pedestrian and cycle safety is very good, with ample zebra crossings, 20mph speed limit, speed bumps and a cycle lane where it is needed near schools, shops and play areas.”
But these are outnumbered by those who think that extensive improvements need to be made. The called-for improvements include:
adding dedicated cycle lanes
making Arbury Road East one-way
banning on-pavement parking
banning on-pavement cycling and e-scooters
banning heavy goods vehicles
installing a speed camera and enforcing the 20mph speed limit
traffic calming to deter speeding
retaining on-street parking (to narrow road and slow down traffic), and
introducing a modal filter to prevent commuter traffic.
Given these demands, the committee of ARERA will continue to press the County Council, its Highways and Transport Committee, and the Greater Cambridge Partnership, along with our local councillors, to take the requested actions required to improve pedestrian and cyclist safety on Arbury Road East.
Some are particularly pertinent to us on Arbury Road East – for instance, about on pavement parking and front garden parking if you don’t already have a dropped kerb.
You can see these below, and visit link above for all.
Please let us know if you have any issues, comments or queries that any of this raises for you.
Ian Cooper
Secretary, ARERA
What about parking on the footway alongside the road?
The Council receives a lot of complaints about parked cars blocking footways for pedestrians, pushchairs and wheelchairs. We cannot introduce a parking scheme that allows parking on the footway and forces vulnerable road users to walk in the road. The exception to this is in streets where such an arrangement is already in place and spaces have been formally marked as such.
Will we have to have signs and road markings in the street?
It is essential that drivers are aware of where they can and cannot park. Generally speaking, where parking is permitted, the areas will be marked out as white boxes with upright signs alongside. Where parking is not allowed, yellow lines are used. In some schemes it is not practical to mark out bays on the road. In such areas, there will be zone entry signs and repeater signs but no bay markings. These schemes are known as Permit Parking Areas (PPA).
How will the scheme affect the use of my private driveway?
You do not need a permit to park on your driveway or any other private areas of land.
If you have a constructed access with dropped kerbs, we will not mark a bay across it.
However, if you use your garden to park on and do not have dropped kerbs this is an unauthorised vehicular access, and we may allow parking across your frontage. In this situation, you may wish to consider applying for dropped kerbs. You can obtain more information here: www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk and enter Dropped Kerbs in the search bar.
The Arbury Road East Residents’ Association has expressed concern about the Greater Cambridge Partnership’s (GCP) use of the consultations on the Milton Road parking schemes to launch a pre-emptive strike to strip Arbury Road East of its parking and turn the whole of Arbury Road into a de facto ‘urban clearway’ – even though consultation on the GCP’s Review of Road Classifications has yet to take place.
We know that this concern is shared by looking at the responses left in the comments book at the ‘consultation’ meeting held recently by the GCP at Chesterton Community College.
We have been warned that the GCP may seek to solve this ‘problem’ (of its own making) by removing Arbury Road East from the proposed Hurst Park Estate parking scheme.
We here put on record that the residents and businesses on Arbury Road East:
have not voted for Arbury Road East to be removed from this parking scheme
have not voted for the status of Arbury Road East, which is very narrow, to be changed from a residential street to a de facto ‘urban clearway’ by the addition of double yellow lines along both sides of the road
have not voted for all parking on Arbury Road East to be removed
have not voted for Arbury Road to lose its previously allocated status, as shown on maps issued by both the county council and the GCP, as a ‘designated priority cycle route’ along its whole length.
What the GCP is currently proposing will not improve the safety of those who live, work, shop and go to the schools located directly on Arbury Road or to the schools in the near vicinity.
The single painted advisory cycle lane shown on one side Arbury Road East in the GCP proposals is not compliant with the government’s 2020 requirements as set out in Local Transport Note 1/20. No provision at all is made for cyclists travelling in the opposite direction.
The GCP’s current proposals for Arbury Road will not help it achieve the 15 per cent reduction in motorised traffic in Cambridge that it has set as its objective.
We urge our elected representatives – Cambridge’s MP and the leaders of the county and city councils – to use their oversight to ensure that the GCP will not be allowed to use its Milton Road Parking Scheme, its Road Hierarchy Review, or any other mechanisms at disposal, to make undemocratic decisions about the fate of those who live on or use this road, as well as the neighbouring roads adjoining it.
Ian Cooper Secretary, Arbury Road East Residents’ Association (arera.org.uk)
The Greater Cambridge Partnership project has called the project the “GCP Resident Parking Scheme”.
There are plans to put double yellow lines along the length of Arbury Road
Plans to remove current free on-street parking spaces have incensed some residents on Arbury Road, who argue that under current proposals, residents would face a long walk to get to their cars. In the attached plan for the Greater Cambridge Partnership’s project, double yellow lines are visible along the length of Arbury Road, with a dotted line indicating a cycle lane going from Milton Road to the Recreation ground.
This change, critics have warned, will transform Arbury Road into an “urban clearway”, which is defined as “a stretch of road in an urban area on which motorists may only stop in an emergency”.
A call to action entitled: ‘ACT Now – GCP Plans to turn Arbury Road into an Urban Clearway’ was posted by the campaign on social media two days ago, and has already received dozens of reactions. The purported intention of the GCP’s “Resident Parking Scheme” is to give residents in the Milton Road area parking priority within their area.
Under these plans, Arbury road residents also fear they may have to find a parking space on those allocated to the Hurst Park Estate – quite some distance from Arbury Road. They also have criticised the fact that they would be obliged to spend £54 on a permit for their car, which could potentially be on a road miles away from home.
On the scheme’s official webpage the GCP insist the new plans will make it easier for residents to park: “The introduction of a residents’ parking scheme ring fences available parking spaces to those people who live in the area. It should enable those who regularly find it difficult to park within a reasonable distance of their home due to other competing parking demands, to find a space”.
One user commented that the area is already underserved by public transport: “There are no buses up Arbury Road and installing a “modal filter” would make that even less likely. “
“In addition, as well as forcing local traffic to take a considerably extended route in order to reach Histon or Chesterton High St, adding greatly to overall pollution, it could also direct escaping vehicles into Leys Rd and around the Hurst Park estate at cost to their local environment. Not everybody can cycle”.
Another user commented said: “The Arbury Road saga continues…”
GCP Plans to turn Arbury Road into an Urban Clearway!
Many residents and shopkeepers in Arbury Road east supported the idea of joining a residents’ parking scheme with the Milton Road, Hurst Park Ave and Leys Road areas when they were asked for their views by local councillors this summer. It was therefore a shock to discover that the Greater Cambridge Partnership’s current proposals mean no parking at all in Arbury Road, not even for disabled drivers or customers of businesses at the Milton Road junction.
Instead Arbury Road residents will be expected to find a parking space amongst those allocated to the streets on the Hurst Park Estate. For details, see
During the day there is already some pressure on spaces in Leys Road which is the nearest parking, so if Arbury Road residents lose all their parking those who need parking will find themselves paying £54 p.a. per car with no guarantee of a space anywhere near their home. If the scheme goes ahead the squeeze on spaces will only get worse.
The above plan prepared for the Greater Cambridge Partnership shows double yellow lines along the length of Arbury Road with an unprotected (dotted line) cycle lane going from Milton Road to join the one which starts at the Rec. There will be nothing for cyclists on the other side of the road going towards the junction. This change will turn the whole of Arbury Road into a de facto ‘urban clearway’ – “a stretch of road in an urban area on which motorists may stop only in an emergency”.
If this proposal goes ahead, not only will a significant number of residents lose their parking, but the road will become even more unsafe, as a straight unimpeded road is likely to encourage speeding. The 20 mph limit is already largely ignored, but such a road could become a speedway with no traffic calming measures – none are shown on the map above..
These proposals do not address the concerns that residents have already voiced about road safety and pollution but in fact are likely to make matters worse!
There is an opportunity to view the plans and discuss them with the consultants on Wednesday 19th October from 5-7 pm at Chesterton Community College Drama Studio, or online on Wednesday 2 November at 6 pm.
We recommend residents read the proposals in detail, attend one of the meetings if possible and fill in the survey. Do share your concerns with your local councillors, the GCP and your local residents’ association – ARERA – we will do our best to represent your views.
If you would prefer not to complete the consultation survey online, please telephone 01223 699 906, a member of GCP Call Centre will add your responses to the survey for you.
Cars being forced off the road by articulated lorries unable to turn safely at the Milton Road junction
Speeding lorries and the poor condition of Arbury Road has resulted in many of you experiencing disturbing structural vibrations in your homes, particularly in the early hours of the morning. Have you experienced this? Are you worried by structural problems?
We believe a 7.5 ton restriction should be put in place to prevent large lorries from using the eastern end of Arbury Road where it is narrow and the pavements offer little protection to pedestrians. These lorries also endanger cyclists and obstruct cars travelling in the opposite direction. Such a restriction would match that on Union Lane and force large lorries to use wider and safer routes into Cambridge – as intended by the A14 signage. Currently cyclists are routinely forced off the road.
Please let us know if you have experienced shaking and please report it to the Council using this link:
